Trolley work will close portions of Mesa, Glory Road

Traffic may slow on streets around UTEP starting Monday as crews will lay the final portion of rail for the $97 million streetcar project.

Starting Monday, Glory Road will be completely closed between Oregon Street and Mesa Street. Baltimore Drive will also be closed between Mesa and Stanton. That’s to allow crews to complete the rail approaching Mesa.

Workers are seen installing rails along Santa Fe Street near the intersection with Main Street in ...more

Workers are seen installing rails along Santa Fe Street near the intersection with Main Street in Downtown El Paso in September 2016.

RUDY GUTIERREZ / EL PASO TIMES

But traffic will come to a slower crawl on the Mesa intersection with Glory Road/Baltimore Street starting July 5, when only one lane in each direction will be open.

Beginning on Monday and for eight weeks, Oregon Street will close to thru traffic between Franklin and Wyoming Avenues. Cross streets will remain open but will be subject to lane restrictions.

Starting June 26 and for up to 10 weeks, Stanton Street will close to thru traffic between Franklin and Wyoming. Cross streets will remain open.

Raymond Telles, executive director of the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority, said the rail work is nearly 90 percent complete.

"On Mesa, no matter how we did it, was going to be painful, but we’ve got to do it," he said. "We recently finished the Downtown southern loop, and we're close to completing laying rail altogether and move on to the next step."

Only one lane in each direction will be open along Mesa Street around UTEP starting July 5 for the ...more

Only one lane in each direction will be open along Mesa Street around UTEP starting July 5 for the trolley project.

Map courtesy CRRMA

After the rail work is done, crews will work on sidewalk repairs, pole placement for the overhead catenary system which will power the streetcars, and striping operations.

The CRRMA is overseeing its construction, and Sun Metro will operate the streetcar once it’s completed in late 2018.

Paso del Norte Trackworks is building the trolley’s tracks, the overhead wires and the poles that will hold the wires that will run the length of the route.

The 4.8-mile route will have 27 stops along two loops that will connect international bridges, retail areas, government buildings, the Downtown ballpark with the hospital district and UTEP, as well as El Paso Community College Rio Grande campus and several historic neighborhoods.

Information: 844-252-RAIL.

Cindy Ramirez may be reached at 546-6151; cramirez@elpasotimes.com; @EPTCindyRamirez on Twitter.